MEXICO REAL ESTATE: WHAT IS EJIDO LAND AND SHOULD YOU BUY IT?
If you've ever visited Playa del Carmen, you've probably daydreamed about building your own vacation home here on the Caribbean coast. Whether you're looking for jungle land, a lot in Downtown Playa del Carmen or some beachfront property, this gorgeous part of the world has many options for creating your own little piece of paradise.
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However, when buying land in Playa del Carmen and the rest of the Riviera Maya, there is one kind of land you probably want to avoid: ejido land.
Ejido (pronounced "eh-HEE-do") land can be legally purchased, but there are quite a few complications and potential pitfalls that come along with this kind of property. Rob Kinnon, owner of BuyPlaya Real Estate Advisors, explains it to us:
"The first thing you need to know is the history of ejido land. In the early decades of the 1900s, the Mexican government set up humongous tracts of land to be used for the people. These tracts of land are owned by the government but possessed by the people. We do have ejido land here in the Riviera Maya, and the big question is whether or not this land is saleable.
"If the buyer is 100% informed of the status of the land, it is, in fact, saleable insomuch as you are selling the rights to the land, not title. They will possess the land, but they will not own it because the ownership is held by the ejidatarians, the people that run that ejido. If the buyer agrees and understands that he/she will not get the title, then the sale is fine.
"A big aspect to keep in mind is that a buyer can "regularize" the property, which is to say: make it titled land. The regularization is a process the buyer goes through with the ejidatarians to extract the land from the ejido and put a title on it. This is a reasonably set-in-stone process if you have a cooperative, knowledgeable and willing ejidatarian, which is often the case here in Playa del Carmen, although other ejidos can be more problematic. However, the regularization process is typically quite lengthy and expensive."
In a nutshell, ejido land is saleable, but while it is in the ejido, it can only be possessed but not owned. Getting a title for the land is possible in some cases, but the process is often not worth the extensive effort.
Here at BuyPlaya Real Estate Advisors, we very strongly encourage our foreign clients not to purchase ejido land unless it is a very simple transaction and they fully understand the entire situation.
Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya offer plenty of beautiful non-ejido lots where you can build your dream vacation home without the hassle. Whether you're looking for land in Playa, Akumal or Tulum, BuyPlaya Real Estate has some amazing options to fit any budget. Visit BuyPlaya.com to see the properties we currently have for sale, and let us help you create your dream vacation home in the Riviera Maya.